Working Full Time, Pregnant, and a Toddler in Tow

I always envisioned having two children, but I did not think we would get pregnant so fast. It had taken us over two years to receive the news we were pregnant with our first child. The idea of starting to try after our infant hit his one-year birthday was merely because I assumed it would take as long. I had not planned to have them so close together but here we were trying to make this work pregnant with twins.

I remember pregnant barely being able to keep my eyes open as my 17-month-old played at my feet. I was tired! I had just worked all day and came home to relieve our nanny with a goodbye that truly had a hidden meaning of, “wait can you just stay until bedtime.” I severely underestimated how hard pregnancy would be with a newly turned and very active toddler running around. Work actually was a nice escape to the physical demands of toddlerhood but there was no escaping the reality of how tough it is to keep going at the end of the day. 

I had to switch this up it was not possible to just sink into the couch and close my eyes like I did in my first pregnancy. Those moments were reserved for when my husband was able to leave from work earlier which was often difficult with a very busy tax firm where late nights are kind of the norm. 

There was a decision that had to be made to survive and simply said I had to keep it moving. I would love to have had our nanny stay each night until my husband got home but that was not financially something we could do. We didn’t have any family nearby, so the solution was to keep it moving. My son and I spent most nights after I relieved the nanny out of the house until bath time. We would schedule evening activities at My Gym, grocery shop adventures, Target runs, and when light permitted evening walks. Then I would happily pass him to his dad as soon as he arrived home. Yes, his bedtime was later, but the reality is it was later because as working parents we were trying to soak up the one to two hours we got to see him each day. 

This was just a reminder that parenting is full of uncharted territories. You willingly or unwillingly compare yourself to others in this awe of, “I don’t know how she does it”. You never can imagine going through something similar and being able to make it work. When faced with these moments when you literally have no choice somehow new ideas find their way to you in order to push through. For me it was letting go of expecting to hold my standards to the same level as my first pregnancy. Embracing my limitations, having some caffeine each day (doctor approved), getting out of the house, and supporting independent play. Don’t get me wrong I would get upset that I couldn’t be the mom I thought I needed to be in those moments of coming home after a long day at work. Looking back, I can see what we did together actually set the stage for this independent amazing human who just happens to be turning 6 next week.